The assessment of agroecological role of artifi- cial tree and shrub plantings in the transformation of environmental and climatic factors, changes in soil formation processes was given. The influence of various biodendrogroups (BDG) of artificial plan- tations on soil properties in dry steppe of Shirinsky area of the Republic of Khakassia was studied. The change of such environmental factors under the influence of artificial forest plantations as soil mois- ture and temperature was established. Biological productivity was determined and ecological sus- tainability of artificial plantations of different compo- sition in arid conditions was assessed. Insignificant decrease in temperature and the increase in soil moisture under the canopy of BDG, clearly ex- pressed in plantations with edificatory species of woody plants, characterized by a dense and spreading crown, were revealed. An increase in illumination in sparse stands with predominantpresence of shrub species was recorded, which contributes to active growth of vegetative mass of herbaceous plants under the canopy of these plan- tations. In the soil of these plantations the strength- ening of the processes of mineralization and the increase in the content of nutrients was estab- lished. No statistical correlation was found between the reserves of herbaceous phytomass and the nutrient content in the soil under the biodendrogroups. A fairly close dependence of the- se indicators on the lightwas established. An in- crease in biological diversity was typical and due to the changes in structural composition of terrestrial herbaceous vegetation and the appearance in its composition of representatives of forest herba- ceous flora, indicating the formation of sustainable artificial ecosystems in arid conditions of Khakassia.